I seldom watch MTV or listen to the radio so I might be way behind on this. I relay on recommendations for new music. But I was flipping channel and caught the video for The Seed 2.0 by The Roots. That was good stuff. It had a mix of funk, blues, rock and soul. The musicianship was excellent. The rhythm was solid. The vocals outstanding. The drummer, especially, tore it up. Is all of their stuff that style? MTV lists them as a Hip-Hop act but that wasn’t hip-hop. It was something Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind and Fire or Fishbone could have been proud of. Please tell me it’s the revival of Funk or real R&B.
*The Seed 2.0 * was off of the last Roots’ album, Phrenology, which was their most experimental and rangy (they had also had techno and punk songs on there). It is definitely not their usual style. It was more of a showpiece for Cody Chestnutt, who wrote the song. You might want to check his album out, The Headphone Masterpiece. Unfortunately, *The Seed * (original version) is supposed to be the best song on his album and its recording quality is quite low.
The Roots are a live band whose aim is to sound like sampled hip-hop music. You won’t like their other stuff.
I have both Phrenology and The Headphone Masterpiece. They are both good, but IMHO not great. The Headphone Masterpiece’s recording quality is indeed quite low, but it just sounds like what it probably is: Cody ChesnuTT sitting around with an 4 track recorder and some instruments. It comes out somewhere between Prince and gangsta rap, more towards the Prince side of things. There are some catchy and interesting things on there, but it is more focused on experiment than making good music.
If you do want to try The Roots, definitely get Illadelph Halflife which is a really good album.
Bummer. But thanks for the info. I’ll have to check if that song is available on iTunes and just buy it instead of the whole album. Perhaps if the single sells enough they’ll go in that direction. I’d love to find a band that plays that style. Know of any?
God! Don’t do that!
I bought Phrenology before The Seed started getting airplay, and though I thought it was a cool song, I didn’t think it was that unusual in the context of the album or even the best song on the album. I mean, I think there’s quite a bit that’s similar to that. Try Sacrifice, Thought@Work or Break You Off before you dismiss The Roots as “not your thing.” You should also check out their other crossover hit You Got Me.
I hope not, and I doubt it.
Yeah, i got to agree with gex gex . “Thought@work”'s my favourite off Phrenology, good as the Seed is. That album covers a lot of ground, and most of it rules.
“I’m like Imothep, but don’t flaunt it!”
Fans of *Thought@Work * should check out the song it is paying homage to, *Men at Work * by Kool G Rap and Polo. It’s on their classic first album, Road to the Riches. G Rap kills it and then you look at the album and you realize it’s from 1988.
Gotta know your history.